Territory



H. THIELSEN. Railroad Cross Tie.

(No Model.)

Patented June 14', 1881f I n V V Washinglun a c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HANS THIELSEN, OF W'ALLA WALLA, WASHINGTON TERRITORY.

RAILROAD CROSS-TIE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 242,850, dated June 14, 1881 Application filed November 13, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HANS THIELSEN, of Walla Walla, \Vashington Territory, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railroad Cross-Ties, ofwhich the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to rolled-iron cross-ties for sustaining in position the track-rails upon the permanent way or road-bed of a railroad. Each tie is made of T-iron,in two parts, secured together by a key, bolt, or other equivalent fastening, so as to make a slightly-flexible joint, all as more fully hereinafter described.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view, showing two of the ties with the rails in position thereon; Fig. 2,

.a side elevation of one of the ties, the rails being out in the line 00 51;, Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a perspective of a half-tie on an enlarged scale; Fig. 4, a section on line y y, and Fig. 5 a detail vlew.

Each tie is composed of two parts or halves, A A, with overlapping ends, secured together by a key, a, or other equivalent fastening device. Each half-tie A supports one of the rails, and is made of rolled T-iron, with a slot, 1), at either end, and fingers 0, adapted to firmly clasp the rail. These fingers are formed by slitting the edge and bending up the metal, as shown in the drawings; or they may be cut out near the center and within the margin of the bar. After the rails are in position the fingers are bent down, so as to firmly secure them. One end of the key a, is passed through the slots 1) and turned a quarter-revolution to secure the parts together, and it is prevented from coming'out by tamping the dirt about the lower end underneath the tie. The vertical member of the T-bar is cut away toward the ends, thus leaving the greater weightof metal underneath and adjacent to the rail.

In practice I may make the ties from an H- bar by cutting the web which unites the two upright members of the H-shaped barin such a manner as to form the vertical member of 4 5 the tie. In this way great economy of material is eft'ected,tbere being no waste except the half of a half-tie, which comes offat the end of the bar.

The advantages of my cross-tie areits cheap- 0 shown in the English PatentNo. 1,329 of 1850.

I therefore do not claim such device. 4

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. The half-tie A of rolled T-ir-on, having the slots b and fingers 0, substantially as de- 6 scribed.

2. The cross-tie of rolled T-iron, made in two parts and secured together bya flexible joint, substantially as described.

3. The cross-tie of rolled T-iron, having slots 7 b, fingers c, and made in two parts, secured together by key a, substantially as described. H. THIELSEN. Witnesses:

J. T. GRANGER, G. W. VIs. 

